Morta Skuld – "Creation Undone"

When your only mission is to metal as hard and relentlessly as possible

So, here's an interesting little release. My acquaintanceship with Morta Skuld is limited to their first and third LP from the mid-90s. But as I recall it, those albums were little, if anything, less than 100% unadulterated death metal. And judging by their latest output, "Creation Undone", that trend seems to have gone on throughout the band's entire career.

Opener "We Rise We Fall" kicks open the party with a frenzied machine gun riff and a blast beat in a fat, brutal production, equal parts organic and raw. We're in old school country here – a band like Bolt Thrower immediately comes to mind.

Throughout the album, the riffs are equally reminiscent of both other American death metal legends like Morbid Angel and Swedish ones like Dismember. They're simple and hard, and those same qualities pertain to the vocals. The growl is quite monotonous, though, so that could be said to be the weak link here. But it doesn't detract a whole lot.

Partly because A) Morta Skuld aren't trying anything they're not accomplishing. They're out to kick ass, and that's exactly what's going on here. It's not necessarily very interesting, but it's crushingly hard and uncompromising.

It wouldn't be possible to convert any of these riffs into any other musical styles. And that's not a given.

And partly because B) behind all of said crushingly hard and uncompromising attitude and soundscape is an impressive level of musicianship. Sure, that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows extreme metal. But the album presents itself from the simple end of the genre only to wow the listener by slowly, but surely introduce more complex elements.

"Painful Conflict" has a LOT of drum variation – in fact, I'm tempted to say that the drummer is the ace up the band's sleeve. "The End of Reason" features a synchronous tempo change and modulation to a Mixolydian scale, and the bass guitar goes off-roading into near-jazz territory. "Into Temptation" has this repeated section of irregular meter that I tried counting, but eventually had to give up. And the intro/mid-section in "Oblivion" is like a small prog exercise.

In contrast, "Soul Piercing Sorrow" starts off with a frantic rifferama over a thrash beat, but then transitions into pure headbanger-pleasing downtempo. The slow, groovy "Perfect Prey" is similar, throwbacking to this one little ditty named "Where the Slime Live" (and if you don't know that one, you don't know your death metal).

This is pure fucking metal, written and played by people who've got metal running through their veins and whose only mission is to metal as hard and relentlessly as possible.

None of these tracks will exactly be haunting your inner ear. A lot of the individual sections might as well have been used in other tracks. But that doesn't mean that "Creation Undone" doesn't kick a serious amount of ass. Which it does.

So, while it might not be the best album of the year, it's definitely among the truest albums of the year. In fact, one thing that struck me during the final spin before writing this review was that it wouldn't be possible to convert any of these riffs into any other musical styles. And that's not a given.

Alex Skolnick once told me that he gets his inspiration for his riffs in Testament from several other genres (not surprising with all the jazz and world music he's been messing around with). But this is different. This is pure fucking metal, written and played by people who've got metal running through their veins and whose only mission is to metal as hard and relentlessly as possible.

Well… Mission accomplished, alright.

Rating: 4.5 out of 6

Genre: Death fucking metal
Release date: 23/2/2024
Label: Peaceville
Producer: Chris Wisco + Dave Otero